VANCOUVER — If they held a homecoming parade for Morgan Rielly, he’d expect to get wet.

“I love the rain,” declared the only British Columbia-born Maple Leaf. “It’s supposed to rain horribly while we’re there, but I’ve always said I love it.

“Tyler Bozak gets on his high horse because he lives in Denver and there’s no clouds. He thinks it bothers me when he says it’s raining all the time. But I love being in my condominium in Toronto when it rains. In Vancouver, you can smell it, you can smell the ocean and in my neigbourhood (West Vancouver), it’s cool.”

This stop on the club’s Western Canadian road trip is what Rielly looked forward to the most and possibly of all 41 games away from the Air Canada Centre. He’ll see his parents, Andy and Shirley, brother Connor was coming to the homestead for a family dinner and then there’s Maggie, his yellow Lab retriever. A puppy when Rielly was still a junior with the Moose Jaw Warriors seven years ago, he says it’s still one of the hardest things he does every September, driving away from Maggie when he leaves for camp.

But Rielly did not seek permission to stay over at home Friday night, fear of missing Mike Babcock’s team meeting for Saturday’s 4 p.m. local start against the Canucks superseded family time.

“I’m terrified of the traffic,” Rielly explained. “I don’t want to be on the other side of the (Lions Gate) Bridge. I’ll just go back to the team hotel after dinner.”

There will be lots to discuss at the Rielly table about the Leafs, his fine season on defence, his growing role on a contending team as an alternate captain and the rare chance to win all three games on the trip. Toronto caught Calgary a bit rusty as the Flames came back from their six-game road trip. The Leafs out-worked them 4-1, then won Thursday’s tilt in Edmonton in bizarre fashion with Kris Russell’s own goal.

This could be their first sweep of the West since March of 1996, though the Canucks beat Nashville Thursday in wrapping up their long trek with a record of 3-2-1.

“They’re playing good hockey, a young team with some very good veterans as well,” Rielly noted.

The Leafs 10 goals against the Flames and Oilers ran the gamut from weird to wonderful. There was Roman Polak’s pinball off two Calgary players to break the ice of a scoreless game. Auston Matthews did not get a shot on net in Calgary (for the first time in 103 starts), scoring on his first chance in Edmonton. William Nylander ended a slump at Rogers Place, too, then came Russell’s moment of infamy, trying to get the puck off Nazem Kadri and sweeping it in his own net.

“It’s scoring chances, just being able to jump on them,” said Kadri of what has changed during a recent drought when the Leafs dropped three of four games and were being out-played in their end.

“Sometimes on the road you get hemmed in your own zone for a couple of consecutive shifts and it’s important to turn the tide. A puck bounces out to you and you put it in.”

Vancouver has been a tough place for the Leafs to get points in recent years, a record of 1-6-1 including a shootout loss last December.

Because of the early start Saturday for TV purposes, the Leafs will not have time for a pre-game skate as well as having Friday off. A few players looked like they could use the extended break. Rielly took a heavy jolt late in Edmonton, partner Ron Hainsey was limping to the bus and Matthews was fighting off a cold he said made it harder to keep up with Connor McDavid in a head-to-head match in which both stars scored.

But Rielly, yet to score in eight career games against Vancouver with just two assists, can’t wait to get to the rink.

ANDERSEN IS MR. NOVEMBER

Frederik Andersen is Mr. November for the Maple Leafs.

That was the month last season he began to feel comfortable in his new role as No. 1 for the team, winning eight of 13 decisions. This term he was simply brilliant, a record of 9-2-1 with a 2.14 goals-against average, .938 save percentage and consecutive shutouts against the Devils and Canadiens.

That earned him second star of the month honours by the NHL, behind Colorado centre Nathan MacKinnon and St. Louis centre Brayden Schenn. As a team the Leafs record was 10-4-1 in the month, including two wins on this road trip as they get ready to face Vancouver on Saturday afternoon.

Thursday’s shot total of 45 marked the third time the 28-year-old Dane faced 40-plus in November. Though defensive support is getting better, some nights he’s had to clean up a lot more teammates’ mistakes than he should.

“Freddy is great at battling through traffic,” praised centre Nazem Kadri. “His second efforts are second to none.”